"Captain, a massive heat signature is closing in!" Just as they turned around in mid-air.
A cry of alarm came over the comms.
The squadron leader checked the radar the moment he heard it; a colossal heat source was bearing down on them.
Still over a hundred kilometers away, it was moving faster than a missile.
"What the hell is that!" Seeing the huge radiating area, the captain's face changed.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A gale sprang up and kept getting stronger.
"Thor Fighter Squadron, return to base immediately—Dragon God Margoth is heading straight for you!"
The carrier command cut into their channel.
"Pull out!" Without hesitation the captain pointed his jet toward the coast.
Their fighters could hit Mach 2.1; at full burn they streaked out of Dagen City airspace.
Yet the storm mass behind them—forty or fifty kilometers across—was faster.
Rumble—!
Lightning danced inside the storm as it skimmed past Dagen City, leaving the ground pitted by wind and bolts.
"Captain, we're about to be overtaken—how can that thing be so fast!"
One of the pilots yelled in panic.
The radar showed barely a few dozen kilometers left and still closing.
"Split up!" The captain barked, eyes sharp.
He rolled left and climbed; the rest scattered in every direction.
Rumble! Seeing them scatter, the storm surged straight ahead—toward eight remaining jets.
"No good, we're being—"
Zzzzt!
High and left, the captain listened to the static, face grim, glancing back.
A vast black-grey tempest laced with yellow lightning; his comms were dead, no voices coming through.
Only now did he grasp how nightmarish Dragon God Margoth was—the bane of modern weapons.
The cyclone hurled earth, stones, chunks of buildings—debris of every sort.
The clutter blocked any missile path, while ceaseless lightning jammed guidance—utterly untouchable.
Onboard the Prince Terry, every officer watched the radar as, within ten seconds, every fighter vanished.
A deathly silence fell; Luther stared at the huge blip, face dark.
"All batteries, lock and fire!" he ordered coldly.
"Aye!" Crewmen relayed the command to the fleet.
Ten minutes later, yellow plumes blossomed above the black sea beyond the ships' lights.
Whoosh, whoosh! The night sky lit up with missile trails.
Hundreds streaked out in tight succession.
They crossed a hundred kilometers toward the storm still moving seaward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The instant they hit the outer wall, supersonic rubble shredded them.
Crimson fireballs flared for less than a second before the gale snuffed them out.
Within the storm's heart, Margoth's twin heads turned, eyes savage, toward the launch point.
Its vast frame shifted, setting course for the fleet.
As the storm neared the coast it whipped up tsunamis… Outside Anna Country's capital, deep in a mountain.
Jiang Yan pocketed his phone and sank his mind into the space.
Locals had already posted footage when the Teya Alliance jets appeared.
An Conghao, monitoring the web while directing logistics, spotted it and called Jiang Yan at once.
"Things should quiet down now," Jiang Yan murmured, calm.
The pearl of the abyss in his mind was full—time to summon again.
pearl of the abyss: 819200 / 819200
"Negative energy maxed. Commence summon?"
"Summon."
At his will, a purple-black cloud swirled into being a meter away.
It spread to a meter across, then stopped.
"That small?" Surprise flickered in Jiang Yan's eyes.
Cloud size wasn't absolute, but it usually hinted at strength.
This one hummed far longer—half an hour—before dispersing.
A pitch-black creature, seventy-eighty centimetres tall, appeared.
A long black protrusion rose from its head, tipped with a tiny black knob; it had an adult human face set in solemn lines, though up-curved brows gave it a faintly comical look.
Seeing Jiang Yan, its solemnity vanished; it pressed palms together, rubbed them, and beamed. "Master."
"What is this thing?" Jiang Yan raised a brow at the rough, quirky design and its fawning manner.
Data on the creature surfaced in his mind.
Black Gold: a monster from another world with supreme splitting power! (Crude visuals are a mark of the strong.)
Infinite Split: given ample food and energy, Black Gold can divide; each clone has linked yet independent consciousness. If one survives, division continues. Without supplies, they slowly absorb ambient energy to recover.
Fusion · Colossal Form: merged clones boost all physical stats.
Fusion · Gold Form: locked (unseal at 32 quadrillion clones).
Fusion · Platinum Form: locked (unseal at 56 quadrillion clones).
"Interesting ability…" Jiang Yan's expression turned odd as he read, then glanced at the little monster.
"Black Gold, how many clones can you split right now?"
Hand on hip, the creature stroked its chin. "Master, I could do fifty-odd quadrillion—but feeding them all would be a headache; those brats won't rejoin me unless they're starving or in danger."
"Is that so?" Jiang Yan shook his head; that many mouths could bankrupt the Monster Association.
If he ignored them and let them starve, reviving a new Black Gold would cost just as much.